Technology changes education, not only because it enables remote learning, but now accomplishes routine tasks quicker and more accurately than humans. Daniel Susskind, author of A World without Work (2020), shows how machines are taking on tasks thought only humans could do. Moravec’s Paradox (1976) observes that many things that are hard to do with our heads are easy to automate. This is why we can use machine systems to make medical diagnoses and analyse criminal evidence, but do not have robot hairdressers or gardeners. Reasoning requires little computation, but sensorimotor and perception need huge calculating resources. This idea has been explained by Hans Moravec as well as Rodney Brooks (1986, 2022), Marvin Minsky (1986), and others. Moravec (1988, p. 15) wrote: “it is comparatively easy to make computers exhibit adult level performance on intelligence tests or playing checkers and difficult or impossible to give them the skills of a one-year-old when it comes to perception and mobility”. Minsky (1986) stated that the most problematic human skills to reverse engineer are below conscious awareness. “In general, we’re least aware of what our minds do best. We’re more aware of simple processes that don’t work well than of complex ones that work flawlessly” (p. 2). Steven Pinker (1994/2007) said: “the main lesson of thirty-five years of AI research is that the hard problems are easy and the easy problems are hard” (p. 190).
Computers are now so much faster than 50 years ago and now able to handle perception and sensory skills. Moravec predicted this in 1976 and now GPT-3 creates poetry, stories and even pastiche. GPT stands for Generative Pre-trained Transformer 3 (GPT-3) and is an autoregressive language model released in 2020 that uses deep learning to produce human-like text. As routines take up to 75% of job time, employees like teachers now need more flexible abilities for new work opportunities. Intelligent machines (robots) are doing basic thinking and actions for us, so there is unease that education is not addressing the higher thought processes required for smarter roles.
The World Thinking Project, initiated by Bozydar Kaczmarek, Head of the Social Psychology and Neuropsychology Laboratory at the Lublin University of Economics and Innovation (WSEI), is collecting data across countries. In Britain, this is showing limited responses to thinking tasks, so supporting concerns (Sage & Sage, 2022). This highlights a need for more attention to thinking for better judgement and decision-making, with a world in turmoil and people unable to connect with others peacefully. Prescriptive teaching for tests focuses on fixed thinking at the expense of a free approach (Sage, 2020). The latter is what develops working values and considers possibilities to solve
Web3 is a new, open 3D-immersive internet. Built on top of the block chain, applications are augmented by decentralised products and NFT s (digital tokens), bringing new ways of how to connect, interact, work and play within a transparent, open ecosystem. We cannot escape NFT s, the Metaverse (digital interaction) and now Web3. The internet must evolve beyond the platform-based ecosystem, as we develop new technology, user privacy standards and immersive content experiences. We can predict new development impacts and understand basic functions for using them in education programmes.
NFT s are unique, irreplaceable non-fungible tokens and are part of the ethereum blockchain – a type of cryptocurrency storing extra information in the form of graphics, drawings, music or videos. The Canadian musician, Grimes, sold a 50 second NFT video for $390,000, showing how digital content can be valued like fine art. NFT s could change the game for digital content creators, who are presently undervalued, as everything belongs to platforms. Pearson (the academic book company) is turning digital texts into NFT s. Thus, the Web3 vision is positive, bringing power back to people, in a digital space available to all. People can communicate and create without limitations, censorship or corporation interference. Web1.0 was “read-only”, featuring webpage-focused content and cookie-based user tracking. The interactive, application-based Web 2.0 had content focused on logged-user ID s – evolving into social media and e-commerce. Web3 is personalised experience, giving users data ownership, employing blockchain technology and identifiers for control. Apple’s Siri has Web3 technology, voice-recognition software.
A meme posted by an artist, “Love in The Time of Web3” – depicted a cartoon couple in bed gazing at Bitcoin and Ethereum prices. Elon Musk (the technology business magnate) reposted it on Twitter, gaining thousands of likes, enabling the artist to turn the meme into an NFT and sell it for $20,000. Thus, the Metaverse is the future of digital interaction, merging virtual and physical worlds. It is already impacting on education, providing virtual training opportunities for medics, educators and other professionals, so that they can observe what is happening in operating theatres, clinics and classrooms, etc. Presently,
How technology can integrate into content teaching has been described in a model structure – the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK).1 The knowledge domains include: technology (TK), content (CK), pedagogical (PK), pedagogical content (PCK), technological content (TCK), technological pedagogical (TPK) and technological pedagogical content (TPCK. This model attempts to identify the nature of knowledge needed by educators for using technology in teaching, as well as addressing the complex, multifaceted nature of understanding. It is based on work of Shulman, Professor of Psychology at Stanford, USA – emphasising communication, comprehension & reasoning as learning priority (1986).
TPACK has been criticised for an imprecise definition of the structure. Other variations are proposed (TPACK-W for web technologies, G-TPACK for geospatial, TPACK-CT for computational thinking, TPAACK-P for practical, etc.). Practically, it is difficult to implement and assess adequately – lacking the exact strategies of how to develop this in teaching. It must be understood there is no coherent theory of technology and learning, as different cultures and educational systems operate in varying national contexts to evolve many modes of learning. Therefore, the book does not suggest a suitable model, in line with this situation. It hopes to provide a range of relevant ideas that are adaptable to all teaching/training contexts rather than an ideal pedagogy only of use in certain settings.
Peter Chatterton (2022), a world expert on technology and education, provides evidence to show that teachers and lecturers do not have the knowledge or experience to use technology in the most effective way. He advocates more attention to this process in initial training and professional development and provides ideas in this book. The text is a response to this situation and provides the range of necessary information in parts that cover relevant material.
Note
Available from http://matt-koehler.com/tpack2/hello-world/
Brooks, R. (1986). Intelligence without representation. MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.
Brooks, R. (2002). Flesh and machines. Pantheon Books.
Chatterton, P. (2022). The rise and rise of digital learning in higher education. In R. Sage & R. Matteucci (Eds.), How the world is changing education (pp. 177–196). Brill.
Minsky, M. (1986). The society of mind. Simon & Schuster.
Moravac, H. (1976). The role of raw power in intelligence. exhibits.stanford.edu/ai/catalog/ws563scl6050
Moravec, H. (1988). Mind children. Harvard University Press.
Pinker, S. (2007). The language instinct. Harper. (Original work published 1994)
Shulman, L. (1986). Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching. Educational Researcher, 15(2), 4–14. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1175860
Sage, R. (2020). Speechless: Issues for education. University of Buckingham Press.
Sage, R., & Sage, L. (2020). A thinking and language analysis of primary age children in four schools [Report]. The Learning for Life Trust.
Susskind, D. (2020). A world without work: Technology, automation and how we should respond. Allen Lane.